18th April 2018: Too hot to trot.

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Wednesday 18th 50-70F, light winds, lots of blue sky and white clouds. Warm sunshine promised. As is an early ride to an appointment. It seems my brother has been hiding his skills at replacing vinyl saddle covers. Lot of useful advice if I should attack the old Vetta. Now I just need to find some magenta vinyl and some decent contact adhesive. Appointment mission accomplished with some shopping thrown in. Only 7 miles.

Thursday 19th 56-70F, light winds with more bright sunshine. Even without a jumper I was too warm on my longer walk up through the woods today. Lots of birds singing, particularly in the forest where I saw  a Coal tit. A large and very pale bird of prey was resting on a small tree away across the fields. The farmers were very busy all day getting a tilth and sewing their fields. You would not believe the dust. Nor the stench of weapons grade pig shit! No ride today but I should have checked the highest temperature. London had 29C a 70-year record.

Friday 20th 54-76!F, light breeze and bright sunshine. Another scorcher is promised. There is only a brief window when the birds are singing and can be easily seen. It takes only a couple of warm days for the leaves and blossom to explode and conceal the wildlife from [my] view. Working on a project in the garden, in hot sunshine, meant another day without a ride.

 http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180416 balancing 50 boxes on a bicycle.

Saturday 21st 45-55F, 7-13C, misty but clearing to sunshine. Lower temperatures expected. There was 100 yard mist when I left to walk up to the woods. The right Ecco boot is finally behaving itself. The mist cleared and returned at intervals as the views shrank and opened up again.

A large tractor, doubled wheels, front and back, was sewing the prairie as I worked my away along the edge of the forest. On the descent two hares ran up to me. I remained perfectly still and kept snapping away with my camera. It took them ages to decide I wasn't a tree before galloping off in completely opposite directions. A big bucket loader was being used to collect field stones on the way back.

A late morning ride with a crosswind to more distant shops . An elderly moron with a trailer pulled out from a junction right across my path when I was doing 20mph. I must remember to shout Idiot! in a Danish accent next time. It sounds more like idiote in Danish. 15 miles.

Sunday 22nd 44-64F, 7-18C, calm and bright but cloudy. Short walk to get some exercise. It became breezier later but I was too busy for a ride. A Goshawk circled overhead in the afternoon. It was warm and cool at intervals depending on the wind.

 Click on any image for an enlargement.

 

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